welp, likely totaled our 04 Saturn VUE today. It was 9 years old. front end damage, punctured radiator and airbag deployment. Fun fun. I wasn't hurt. Annoyed perhaps, but thankful it was the older car and not the Subaru that has 3 payments left.

Think we will look to replace it with a used Subaru, maybe an outback or forester. Maybe there is a chance they won't total, but due the age and such I doubt it. Which sucks, as we put new tires on the thing last summer. It rolled just fine onto the rollback, so at least this time I didn't have a horizontal wheel!

I had to replace the lug nuts and wheel studs on my front tire due to me not tightening the lugs enough and hitting a gnarly pot hole. crap. Bought the studs directly from mopar as i didnt want to have any warranty issues, even if it wasnt a deal breaker, i wanted to play it safe. The guy i got the wheels/tires/lug nuts off of mentioned that he got them from discount tire (in ohio ~150 miles away). They aren't OEM because the acorn cap wouldnt fit right with the center cap installed.

I emailed their rep on a jeep forum and asked if i could buy them individually and what the cost per and shipping would be. this was his response:

Thank you for the PM.

We do have 1/2" open end lugs available individually. The cost per lug is $1.75 plus freight but I would be happy to send you 5 lugs at no charge. Reply back with your full name, address, email, and phone number and I'll have them sent out asap for you.

i know its only like $10 plus shipping, but I thought that was pretty friggin rad.

Altho, if you were a real driver, you'd be able to calculate your speed by knowing your RPM and gear combination.

Covers my RPM too. Cars a coupe, so you sit low, and I like my wheel lower in all cars (I'm a stick figure and drive with my left hand at 7-8 oclock). In this one, it obstructs the view just perfectly if you lower it all the way (and it's a sports wheel, so it's by no means fat)

So... if we have to finance to get the used car we might want anyway, even after a decent downpayment, might as well finance a new 2013 model with 0% financing... Figure between end of year deals, and a sizeable downpayment, looking about a 20k max loan amount. Such that payment would be between 300 and 350, which is significantly less than the 600/mo payment going away in June. Not as ideal as having no payment, but at least buying new, it's under warranty and we'll know the vehicle's full history. Between USAA and/or Costco's buying services, should be a snap.